


Home for the Holidays

by misura



Category: Sorcerer to the Crown - Zen Cho
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-16 00:37:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13042863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Rollo takes Damerell home for the holidays. Georgiana ensues.





	Home for the Holidays

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hellseries](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellseries/gifts).



"Oh, I say," declared Rollo, casting a baleful look on his cousin while Damerell considered the likelihood of being ambushed at a Christmas dinner party by a dragoness.

"Whatever it is you have to say, I am sure it is of no import whatsoever," said his aunt Georgiana, placidly settling herself. "As such, you might as well not bother."

Damerell decided that at least to the current situation, the fact that she was Rollo's aunt was far more pertinent than the fact that she was a dragoness. In Fairyland, as in England, one simply might expect anything at all from one's aunts - without ever being correct as to the particulars, of course.

"I say!" repeated Rollo. "A shabby trick indeed, to play on one's own family!"

Georgiana blew a few smoke rings, seeming quite content.

Rollo's cousin wisely kept quiet, as might Rollo himself have done, had he and Damerell not earlier that day decided to warm themselves with some chocolate and brandy after finding themselves drawn into a snowball fight with some of Rollo's smaller (and younger) relatives.

Damerell cleared his throat. He had no illusion as to being able to make himself agreeable to someone determined to be disagreeable. Nevertheless, he was a sorcerer. More: he was Rollo's friend.

"Well, I shan't have it!" trumpeted Rollo, half-rising. "I shan't have it at all!"

"A brains?" inquired Georgiana. "A thought worth voicing out loud?"

"I shan't let you have Poggs for dinner, see if I shall!" said Rollo. "You'll have to squash me first, and then squash me again and again, until I shall be resembling a pancake. Or a piece of paper."

"Oh, bah," replied Georgiana. "As if doing such a thing would require any effort whatsoever. It might get you to be quiet, at least. A marked improvement over your current state."

"Madam," started Damerell. "I must - "

"No, Poggs!" said Rollo. "I shall defend you! Unto death, if need be - although of course one hopes it will not come to that, given the many fine things one can no longer enjoy when dead."

"How foolish you youngsters get," stated Georgiana, while their host extended to her a bowl of sweet potatoes. "And so excitable, too. Naturally, one cannot expect mortals to be a wholesome influence."

Damerell met her gaze with what he hoped to be valor. Even in Fairyland, a sorcerer might have some hope of holding off a dragon, provided it had no actual intention of harming him and was still young and thus easily distracted by an illusion of something more interesting to pursue.

"I should like to believe, Madam, that I have never treated your nephew as anything less than a friend," he said.

"And what good should that do him, I should not at all like to know, so you needn't bother replying."

The expression on Rollo's still face still caused Damerell some worry. On paper, his own situation might be improved by having a dragon on his side; in actuality, he saw no cause for any optimism whatsoever, were Georgiana to decide to lose her temper with the two of them.

"Oh, we are considerably more than mere friends," said Rollo. "Which is why you needn't try to change the subject, for it will not make one iot of difference. I am quite resolved."

Some few wisps of smoke rose from Georgiana's ears. "As if I would consider such a silly thing."

"Ah." Rollo deflated considerably.

Damerell felt for him. More, he felt warmed by Rollo's devotion, which was a fine and constant thing, wholly different from the loyalty he had seen practiced by most other denizens from Fairyland he had thus far encountered - or that displayed by a fair number of humans he counted among his acquaintances and even friends.

"Silly or not, it is never a bad thing to be assured one is not about to be eaten," said Damerell. "As such, I thank you for your reassurances on that matter, Madam."

Rollo muttered something while peering at the various dishes on the table in front of him. Damerell had been surprised at their lavishness when they had arrived. Now, of course, he had met the cause.

What relative would dare present Georgiana who was known to be without Ruth with a banquet unworthy of such adjectives as 'lavish' and 'extensive'?

Georgiana swallowed some sweet potatoes. "No need to thank me when I said nothing of the sort."

"But - " said Damerell, as Rollo roared, drowning out not only what other words he might have said but also made it quite impossible to think of any that stood some chance of salvaging the situation.

"I merely pointed out the silliness of anyone assuming you'd make a suitable dinner," said Georgiana. "Anyone with half a brain would see that at best, you might make for a light snack. Dessert, perhaps, although I tend to prefer sweeter things for that."

Rollo mumbled something about him having no objection whatsoever to finishing a dinner with a nice bit of cheese, in particular when it came accompanied by something nice to drink.

"It pleases Madam to jest," offered Damerell.

"See that it will not please me less than to eat you and get some peace and quiet that way," returned Georgiana. "Calling me to deal with some wayward relative making trouble for us all - well, I am sure that you thought that was very clever of you, yet I would hardly call it good manners."

"I deeply apologize for any inconvenience you might have suffered as a result," said Damerell. "Although surely, to a dragoness of your might and wisdom, it was but a trifle."

This was, perhaps, a bit too much. "I shall let you get away with spouting such obvious flattery only because it happens to be true," decided Georgiana, imperiously gesturing for Rollo to hand her the dish he had been eyeing himself. "I warn you, though, that my patience and forbearance have their limits."

"Then, rather than try them, we shall enjoy your company in silence," stated Damerell.

"That, I should like to see," said Georgiana, returning a thoroughly emptied plate to the table while Rollo looked on glumly. "It is not often that I have gotten to witness a Christmas miracle, you know, for all that I have lived a great deal longer than all of you combined."

"Perhaps you might share an anecdote with us, then? For our elevation and education?" suggested Damerell, with all the tact imbued in him by both his upbringing and his experience with other people's elder relatives.

"For your amusement, you mean," corrected Georgiana.

Rollo had taken to staring at his empty plate with solid determination.

"Oh, very well. As long as you will refrain from interrupting me with silly questions and comments not a tenth as clever as you think they are," relented Georgiana.

 

("But Poggs!" entreated Rollo. "Surely you must have an elder relative of some sort tucked away somewhere. A great-uncle, perhaps, or a cousin thrice removed? Some estranged blood relation we might seek out next year?")

("I regret to be forced to tell you that I cannot think of anyone," replied Damerell, not without genuine regret. To anyone aspiring to be a sorcerer, a visit to Fairyland represented a chance to achieve one's dreams; to anyone who had already attained that position, the dangers often outweighed the pleasure that might be found in guesting in a realm not one's own.)

("Then, do you not have some niece or nephew given up for adoption, or kidnapped by pirates or the like? It is not that I am all that keen on having an adventure, mind," said Rollo, "but considering the alternative, becoming a pirate for a while must surely be preferable.")

("I shall give the matter some thought," promised Damerell, while reflecting on the likely difficulty of convincing a youngster set on becoming a pirate to abandon their chosen career.)


End file.
